"Word of Mouth" the Kinks last Arista album has been stuck on my turntable the past few days. Like Pete Townsend's solo albums, it has a lot of middle-aged themes that didn't turn me off in 1984 but resonate more as time goes by. For some reason, I always played the sides in reverse order. This really threw me off when I bought it on CD.
The more emotional songs ended up in Ray Davies's movie "Return to Waterloo". It was the end of their run of "Stadium" albums and the first without Mick Avory on drums. "Do it again" is the classic cut and probably would have been a huge radio hit if the label didn't bury it. Usually, the last album of a contract meant minimal promotion. Badfinger's "ASS" and Ian Hunter's "All of the good ones are taken" are other examples of a great album that in those pre-viral days that didn't get their due for this reason.
The irony wasn't lost on me that as "Going Solo" ended side two that my older daughter stomped across the room and made it skip!!